I was driving to work in the morning rush hour (daylight) on the DC metro beltway - traffic was heavy but still moving at a good clip (45-70 depending on the stretch of road). I was keeping with traffic at 60 mph when I noticed my car just started slowing even though the dashboard screen suggested both the engine & the battery were still powering the wheels albeit not coordinated (switching back & forth) so I slowly stepped on pedal to no avail and the car just kept slowing down. I even pumped the gas pedal but nothing.
I determined I would be better off if I could get to the shoulder or off the beltway so signaled to move across four lanes of traffic, Car basically coasted slower & slower across the lanes, steering was 'stiff' but made it to the shoulder where I was going about 5-10 mph where braked and placed car in park. A warning banner had come up as I was making my way off the beltway saying the battery discharged & to park.
My car was basically disabled from under me without warning on the beltway during rush hour traffic. I was nearly rear-ended multiple times which alone could easily end up in a multiple car pile-ups at that time of day so this is BEYOND scary - it is DANGEROUS! Thank God it was daylight so people could see me and Thank God I made it to the shoulder so was able to get a little but away from the zooming traffic - and thank God it was unusually warm weather as it took nearly 3 hours to get a tow truck to the disabled car.
So yes, my disabled car was towed to dealership where they claimed they had never heard of this before and then said the cause was my CAR BATTERY (what? - while driving??? really??!), Needless to say, I was even more shocked that the cost of the car battery was $560!!!!! - Last car battery I bought was only a $100 - not $560!!! The car was still not driving correctly though so they said they would have to charge the hybrid battery overnight (which they did) and then sent me on my way.
NO consumer should be sold a car that randomly & without warning 'disables' at highway speeds - This is 100% DANGEROUS to all persons in that vehicle AND to other drivers & passengers in vehicles near that vehicle - my fear is my incident is NOT UNIQUE so it will happen to others who own this car and who may not be as lucky as me - meaning someone is going to get seriously injured or even killed while driving a KIA Optima hybrid that randomly disables at highway speeds - and if not the owner of the KIA then maybe its the person in the car behind the Kia Optima hybrid...
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I was driving to work in the morning rush hour (daylight) on the DC metro beltway - traffic was heavy but still moving at a good clip (45-70 depending on the stretch of road). I was keeping with traffic at 60 mph when I noticed my car just started slowing even though the dashboard screen suggested both the engine & the battery were still powering the wheels albeit not coordinated (switching back & forth) so I slowly stepped on pedal to no avail and the car just kept slowing down. I even pumped the gas pedal but nothing.
I determined I would be better off if I could get to the shoulder or off the beltway so signaled to move across four lanes of traffic, Car basically coasted slower & slower across the lanes, steering was 'stiff' but made it to the shoulder where I was going about 5-10 mph where braked and placed car in park. A warning banner had come up as I was making my way off the beltway saying the battery discharged & to park.
My car was basically disabled from under me without warning on the beltway during rush hour traffic. I was nearly rear-ended multiple times which alone could easily end up in a multiple car pile-ups at that time of day so this is BEYOND scary - it is DANGEROUS! Thank God it was daylight so people could see me and Thank God I made it to the shoulder so was able to get a little but away from the zooming traffic - and thank God it was unusually warm weather as it took nearly 3 hours to get a tow truck to the disabled car.
So yes, my disabled car was towed to dealership where they claimed they had never heard of this before and then said the cause was my CAR BATTERY (what? - while driving??? really??!), Needless to say, I was even more shocked that the cost of the car battery was $560!!!!! - Last car battery I bought was only a $100 - not $560!!! The car was still not driving correctly though so they said they would have to charge the hybrid battery overnight (which they did) and then sent me on my way.
NO consumer should be sold a car that randomly & without warning 'disables' at highway speeds - This is 100% DANGEROUS to all persons in that vehicle AND to other drivers & passengers in vehicles near that vehicle - my fear is my incident is NOT UNIQUE so it will happen to others who own this car and who may not be as lucky as me - meaning someone is going to get seriously injured or even killed while driving a KIA Optima hybrid that randomly disables at highway speeds - and if not the owner of the KIA then maybe its the person in the car behind the Kia Optima hybrid...
- lucymd, Silver Spring, MD, US